KEVIN Rudd may have had more influence in shaping US policies in Asia than any foreigner since Singapore's founder Lee Kuan Yew during the Vietnam War era, a US government official says.

Kurt Campbell, who was the State Department's top official on East Asia during Barack Obama's first term, says the former prime minister left "almost ocean-vessel-size shoes to be filled'' in helping the United States think strategically.

"Despite personal foibles and a complex relationship in Australia, I think in many respects Kevin Rudd has been the most important strategic thinker in Asia in the last generation,'' said Mr Campbell, a key force in Obama's "pivot'' of putting a greater US focus on Asia.

"He helped us join the East Asia Summit, he helped us think about the fact that the defining feature of modern international relations is China's arrival on the global scene and every aspect of our diplomacy has to be recreated and re-crafted with that in mind,'' Mr Campbell said.

Mr Campbell said the United States also expected to work well with incoming Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Mr Obama and Mr Abbott, in a telephone call after the election, shared concerns about Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons.

Officials say Mr Obama and Mr Abbott also discussed moving ahead with a 2011 plan for the United States to move more than 2500 Marines to the northern city of Darwin by 2016-17, perhaps the most visible Australian support for the US pivot to Asia.

A State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the United States had worked well with Australian leaders across the political spectrum.

"Our assessment is that Australia's fundamental national interests haven't changed, regardless of who's in power. Obviously there will be differences in the way they approach policy,'' the official said.

"I don't expect there to be any significant challenges to continuing to work very closely with Australia on the way we approach both bilateral (relations) and global issues, things like like Syria, energy and climate change,'' he said.